Federal Legislation

Legislation

  • Federal ‘Science of Reading’ Bill Advances | Ed Week
    • Two bills that would boost federal involvement in reading instruction passed out of a Senate committee on Thursday, signaling Congress’ continued interest in the “science of reading” movement. One, the bipartisan READ Act, would put new requirements on existing federal literacy grants to support early screening for reading difficulties and evidence-based reading instruction, and shift some funding to states with the lowest reading scores. Another, the 21st Century Dyslexia Act, would change how the reading disability dyslexia is classified under federal disability law, establishing dyslexia as its own category.
  • “Dangerously broad” federal book ban bill would bar kids from reading books about “transgenderism”
    • The American Library Association (ALA) is sounding the alarm as a federal bill seeking to ban “sexually oriented material” in public schools makes its way through Congress.
    • S.B. 4925 was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on June 24. Officially named the “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act,” it defines “sexually oriented material” as “any program, activity, literature, or material that exposes such children to nude adults, individuals who are stripping, or lewd or lascivious dancing,” as well as anything that “involves gender dysphoria or transgenderism.”
  • Congress Seizes on ‘Parents Rights’ Agenda to Nationalize Censorship in Public Schools | PEN America
    • Two bills, both misleadingly titled, HR 2616, the Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act, and HR 7661, the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act, advanced earlier this spring. Together, they would use federal education funding to pressure schools to restrict materials, student support, and instruction related to gender identity. Schools that fail to comply risk losing those funds. Framed as parental protections, the bills use that leverage to shape what schools teach, what materials students can access, and how educators support vulnerable students. Their proponents have explicitly focused on gender- and sexuality-themed materials, continuing a pattern of policies that marginalize LGBTQ+ students while creating a framework for broader educational censorship. 
    • In a 2025 report, PEN America highlighted research from the Florida Freedom to Read Project that found that where parents were given genuine individual choice over their own children’s library access, the overwhelming majority chose access over restriction. The restrictions imposed through “parental-rights” legislation do not reflect what most parents want for their own children. The bills before Congress seek to nationalize this agenda.

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